Speaker 1: Just grab our bibles, and to grab our bibles and
Speaker 1: turn to Exodus chapter eighteen. Exodus eighteen. If you don't
Speaker 1: have a Bible with you, just raise your hand. We're
Speaker 1: passing those out right now. If you need a bulletin,
Speaker 1: just raise your hand or a pen or anything like that.
Speaker 1: Just catch the eye of one of our ushers and
Speaker 1: keep your hands up and we'll find you and we'll
Speaker 1: get you what you need. Might take a second, but
Speaker 1: we'll find you. In turn to Exodus chapter eighteen. This
Speaker 1: is a good time for me to remind you also
Speaker 1: to please fill out a connection card. You can scan
Speaker 1: the QR code on the bulletin or on the seatback,
Speaker 1: and we just ask that everybody fill out a connection card.
Speaker 1: That's not just for guests, although if you are a guest,
Speaker 1: we'd love to have your contact information. We'll follow up
Speaker 1: with you, love to connect with you, but also for
Speaker 1: members too. It's an important pastoral tool that we know
Speaker 1: that you are here by name. That's very very important
Speaker 1: for our shepherding. And you can leave a prayer request.
Speaker 1: We have a whole team of men and women who
Speaker 1: who will be praying with you and for you through
Speaker 1: the week. For those prayer requests. Exodus chapter eighteen. It's
Speaker 1: a lot to it. So I'm gonta preach fast. You
Speaker 1: listen fast, and then we're going to have the Lord's
Speaker 1: Supper at the conclusion of our service this morning. So
Speaker 1: Exodus eighteen. Exodus is written.
Speaker 2: Early on.
Speaker 1: In the life of the people of God to help
Speaker 1: them understand themselves, and especially to understand God and his work.
Speaker 1: His work and his word is foundational. Exodus is foundational
Speaker 1: to the people of God understanding how God works. And
Speaker 1: I think it's actually foundational for us in ways that
Speaker 1: we often lose sight of, and in this particular pathsage,
Speaker 1: I think is something that we need.
Speaker 2: To come to.
Speaker 1: I know I do over and over again and be
Speaker 1: reminded about how God works among his people. And so
Speaker 1: I'm going to read this passage for us, this whole
Speaker 1: chapter I'm going to dive in. So Exodus eighteen, if everybody's.
Speaker 2: There, I will read aloud. You can read along.
Speaker 1: Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses's father in law, heard.
Speaker 2: Of all that God had.
Speaker 1: Done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the
Speaker 1: Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Now Jethro Moses's
Speaker 1: father in law had taken Zipporah, Moses's wife, after he
Speaker 1: had sent her home along with her two sons. The
Speaker 1: name of one was Gersham, for he had said, I
Speaker 1: have been a sojourner in a foreign land. And the
Speaker 1: name of the other Eliezer, for he said, the God
Speaker 1: of my father was my help and delivered me from
Speaker 1: the sort of Pharaoh. Jethro, Moses's father in law, came
Speaker 1: with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness.
Speaker 2: Where he was encamped at the Mountain of God.
Speaker 1: And he said, and when he sent word to Moses saying, I,
Speaker 1: your father in law, Jethro am coming to you with
Speaker 1: your wife and her two sons with her. And Moses
Speaker 1: went out to meet his father in law and bowed
Speaker 1: down and kissed him, and they asked each other of
Speaker 1: their welfare, and went into the tent. And then Moses
Speaker 1: told his father in law all the Lord had done
Speaker 1: to Pharaoh unto the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the
Speaker 1: hardships that had come upon them in the way, and
Speaker 1: how the Lord had delivered them. Jethro rejoiced for all
Speaker 1: the good that the Lord had done to Israel in
Speaker 1: that he had delivered them out of the hand of
Speaker 1: the Egyptians. And Jethro said, blessed be the Lord who
Speaker 1: has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians,
Speaker 1: out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the
Speaker 1: people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I
Speaker 1: know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because
Speaker 1: in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people. And Jethro,
Speaker 1: Moses's father in law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices
Speaker 1: to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of
Speaker 1: Israel to eat bread with Moses's father in law before God.
Speaker 1: The next day, h Moses sat to judge the people,
Speaker 1: and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.
Speaker 1: When Moses' father in law saw all that he was
Speaker 1: doing for the people, he said, what is this that
Speaker 1: you are doing for the people? Why do you sit
Speaker 1: alone and all the people stand.
Speaker 2: Around you from morning until evening?
Speaker 1: And Moses said to his father in law, because the
Speaker 1: people come to me to inquire of God. And when
Speaker 1: they have a dispute, they come to me, and I
Speaker 1: decide between one person and another. I make them know
Speaker 1: the statutes of God and his laws. Moses' father in
Speaker 1: law said to him, what you're doing is not good.
Speaker 1: You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out,
Speaker 1: for the thing is too heavy for you. You're not
Speaker 1: able to do it alone. Now obey my voice. I
Speaker 1: will give you advice, and God be with you. You
Speaker 1: shall represent the people before God and bring their cases
Speaker 1: to God. And you shall warn them about the statutes
Speaker 1: and the laws, make them know the way in which
Speaker 1: they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look
Speaker 1: for able men from all the people, men who fear God,
Speaker 1: who are trustworthy and hate a bribe. And place such
Speaker 1: men over the chief over the people, as chiefs of thousands,
Speaker 1: of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them
Speaker 1: judge the people at all times. Every great matter they
Speaker 1: shall bring to you, but in any small matter they
Speaker 1: shall decide themselves, so it will be easier.
Speaker 2: For you, and they will bear the burden with you.
Speaker 1: And if you do this, God will direct you, and
Speaker 1: you will be able to endure, and all this people
Speaker 1: will go to their place in peace. So Moses listened
Speaker 1: to the voice of his father in law and did
Speaker 1: all that he had said, Moses chose able men out
Speaker 1: of all Israel, and made them heads over people, chiefs
Speaker 1: of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties of tens, and they
Speaker 1: judge the people at all times. Any heard case they
Speaker 1: brought to Moses, any small matter, they decided themselves. And
Speaker 1: then Moses let his father in law depart, and he
Speaker 1: went away to his own country.
Speaker 2: This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 1: I had a friend, as a conversation I probably had
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago. This friend of mine was doing really
Speaker 1: good stuff. He was doing good things, and who's working
Speaker 1: hard at these good things. But in the midst of
Speaker 1: it all, as much as he was accomplishing and the
Speaker 1: good that he was doing, he was very discouraged. He
Speaker 1: was pretty beaten down. Actually, when I talked to him,
Speaker 1: and he said, Josh, it's like this, we had this.
Speaker 2: It's like.
Speaker 1: I'm in this group of people and I'm the only
Speaker 1: one who knows how to bake a cake, and the
Speaker 1: people keep coming, and I can only bake cake as
Speaker 1: fast as I can bake cake, and there's more of
Speaker 1: them than there are of me, and there's more of
Speaker 1: them every.
Speaker 2: Day, and I can't keep up.
Speaker 1: And what I'm left with is crumbs, and that's all
Speaker 1: they get. I feel like the only thing they're getting
Speaker 1: from me.
Speaker 2: Is crumbs.
Speaker 1: Good guy, good guy as you could ever meet, doing
Speaker 1: the best kind of things they ever feel like my
Speaker 1: friend as a leader, maybe as a maybe as a
Speaker 1: small group leader, if you lead a small group, or
Speaker 1: or in any kind of ministry or any kind of
Speaker 1: leadership at all, as a person who just is looking
Speaker 1: to do good for people and disciple people and mentor
Speaker 1: people and lead and care for just caring for people
Speaker 1: real quick, it can feel like you're left with crumbs.
Speaker 2: All they get is crumbs. Or maybe you know.
Speaker 1: What it's like on the other side, and you're like,
Speaker 1: I'm looking for some help. I'm looking for some even guidance,
Speaker 1: and I feel like all I can get is crumbs.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're here this morning and you're not even a
Speaker 1: Christian and saying, I are you know the kind of
Speaker 1: thing you're talking about.
Speaker 2: Even though I'm not a believer in Jesus Christ, I'm.
Speaker 1: Already picking up this dynamic and I know what this is,
Speaker 1: I know what this feels like. If that's you, I
Speaker 1: would just say, if you'll listen, I think you might
Speaker 1: pick off on some of the extraordinary ways, extraordinary ways
Speaker 1: that God helps, but also some of the ordinary ways
Speaker 1: that God helps even in just this kind of situation.
Speaker 1: Because this story is about leadership crumbs, and it does
Speaker 1: not start, it does not start with a discouraged person.
Speaker 1: And actually, we could say this story is kind of
Speaker 1: like four scenes. I think this story kind of breaks
Speaker 1: down pretty nicely into four scenes scenes and it starts
Speaker 1: see one full of blessing, and we could even say impressing.
Speaker 1: We'll call scene one blessing and impressing. Here's what I mean.
Speaker 1: Here's how the camera opens. Jethro, Moses's father in law.
Speaker 1: The scripture says, like over and over again, kind of
Speaker 1: hammering away at that. Jethro, Moses's father in law, is
Speaker 1: hearing things, right, That's what verse says. Verse one says,
Speaker 1: Jethro is hearing how God is providing and helping Moses.
Speaker 2: Now, Jethro is the priest of Midian.
Speaker 1: We don't know a lot about what that means, but
Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say that then Jethro is.
Speaker 2: A spiritual guy.
Speaker 1: He's a religious guy, and he is probably not a
Speaker 1: believer in the Living God, the God of Israel.
Speaker 2: But he's hearing things.
Speaker 1: And so Jethro shows up with Moses's wife and sons.
Speaker 1: He's been, he's had them for safe keeping for a
Speaker 1: little while, and now he's bringing them to Moses. And
Speaker 1: he shows up, and you can just see through in
Speaker 1: verses two through six, like even Moses's kids are named
Speaker 1: in such a way as to say, God has been
Speaker 1: helping me through my hardships. His first his first kid's name.
Speaker 2: Is wandering right hardship, and.
Speaker 1: His second kid's name is God helps. Already, you see
Speaker 1: the pattern hardship help. And I'm sure there's a sweet
Speaker 1: reunion with Moses and his wife and his kids. But
Speaker 1: the camera stays on Jethro, right, That's how scripture has
Speaker 1: it tracking Jethro. Why maybe it's because we're about to
Speaker 1: see how this priest of Midian responds to the true
Speaker 1: God and the way God helps. Or maybe it's because
Speaker 1: we're about to see how Jethro becomes an instrument in
Speaker 1: God's hand for help. But the scripture has the camera
Speaker 1: tracking Jethro. Jethro and Moses meet up, and they start
Speaker 1: to catch up, says in verse seven. They ask about
Speaker 1: each other's welfare. Hey, Moses, been a while, I know Jethro,
Speaker 1: we should talk.
Speaker 2: They go into the tent and he tells Jethro.
Speaker 1: Verse eight says, all the Lord has done all the hardships,
Speaker 1: and how the.
Speaker 2: Lord helped them. Hardship help, hardship help.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: We were stuck in Egypt, but God helped through planks.
Speaker 1: Man. We were up against the Red Sea and God helped.
Speaker 1: He split the sea.
Speaker 2: Man. We were hungry and God helped. He sent manna.
Speaker 1: Then we were thirsty and God helped. He sent water
Speaker 1: from a rock. I can't help it. You know that
Speaker 1: this reminds me of this church. I mean, naturally, if
Speaker 1: you've been around for a while. Hardship God helps. We're
Speaker 1: setting up and tearing down in an elementary school. God helps,
Speaker 1: and he gets us to a place. Covid hits, Gold's
Speaker 1: gym stops gimming. We get to move in one thing
Speaker 1: after the next thing. You had just been a little
Speaker 1: here a little while. You've seen how God had responded
Speaker 1: to every hardship. But not only that, it reminds me
Speaker 1: of how God has responded to us in the hardship
Speaker 1: of sin and lostness.
Speaker 2: We like sheep, have gone astray.
Speaker 1: We were dead in our trespasses and Yet God laid
Speaker 1: on Christ the iniquity of us all, and saved us,
Speaker 1: and forgave us and gave us to him himself as
Speaker 1: a people hardship help.
Speaker 2: Jet throw.
Speaker 1: Hears all of this, and he puts his confidence in
Speaker 1: the True and Living God.
Speaker 2: You see it. Verse nine, he's rejoicing with Moses.
Speaker 1: Man, God, God does stuff.
Speaker 2: Verse ten, blessed be the Lord.
Speaker 1: He finally uses the covenant name of God, and in
Speaker 1: verse eleven he says, I know now, I know, yahweh,
Speaker 1: the God you worship is greater than all gods. He
Speaker 1: just responds to the testimony of Moses as God as
Speaker 1: Moses just lays out like God did this, and he
Speaker 1: helped this way, and he helped this way, and he
Speaker 1: helped this way.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 1: I preach a lot of sermons, and I know God
Speaker 1: uses them, But what I have seen God use over
Speaker 1: and over and over as well is just all y'all's testimonies.
Speaker 1: When you open up your mouth and tell of what
Speaker 1: God has done, he helped this way and this way
Speaker 1: and this way and this way.
Speaker 2: God uses that. I watch that.
Speaker 1: When I open up my mouth. Let me just challenge you.
Speaker 1: There are some people here who are not Christians. There
Speaker 1: are some people here who are, and I just want
Speaker 1: to challenge you to find.
Speaker 2: Each other and metaphorically go back to the tent, right,
Speaker 2: just take them to your house.
Speaker 1: You want to hear what God has done and open
Speaker 1: up your mouth and testify.
Speaker 2: To what God has done.
Speaker 1: God uses that over and over and over again, just
Speaker 1: like he does here with Jethro. And Jethro is listening
Speaker 1: and he goes, if God has done that, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: trust him, and he offers up Verse twelve, says burnt
Speaker 1: offerings and sacrifices. He goes to worship the Lord, and
Speaker 1: then Jethro hangs out with Moses and Moses's brother Aaron
Speaker 1: and all the elders of Israel for.
Speaker 2: The rest of the night. They have a hangout.
Speaker 1: And there is nothing like hanging out with old people,
Speaker 1: like good old guys who know how to tell stories,
Speaker 1: which I am sure Jethro did. This is a hangout.
Speaker 1: It is a scene of blessing. It's a scene of impressing.
Speaker 1: This is a good feeling when you are celebrating God's
Speaker 1: blessings and help, when you are seeing people trust Him
Speaker 1: based on the testimony that you have shared. When you
Speaker 1: are impressing your father in law.
Speaker 2: It's a good day when.
Speaker 1: He's genuinely impressed, not just saying something nice like oh
Speaker 1: that's real nice, like when he's like, let's hang out.
Speaker 2: It's a good day. It's a good night.
Speaker 1: You know what's coming the next morning. And it's not good.
Speaker 2: That's our next scene.
Speaker 1: Could if you call scene one blessing and impressing, you
Speaker 1: call scene two not good. It is not good when
Speaker 1: your father in law goes from genuinely impressed to markedly
Speaker 1: and vocally unimpressed. Because verse thirteen says the next day,
Speaker 1: bleary eyed Moses is up early, doing his leadership.
Speaker 2: Thing all day long.
Speaker 1: Verse fourteen, his father in law sees him, and he says.
Speaker 2: Why are you doing all this?
Speaker 1: And Moses seems to mishear the question because he answers
Speaker 1: this way fifteen and sixteen. Moses says to his father
Speaker 1: in law, because when the people come to me to
Speaker 1: inquire of God, when they have a dispute, they come
Speaker 1: to me, and I decide between one person and another.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of counseling and dispute resolution here. Right.
Speaker 1: I make them know the statutes of God. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of teaching.
Speaker 2: And his laws.
Speaker 1: Right, I'm praying, I'm interceding, I'm shepherding, I'm teaching. God
Speaker 1: wants his people cared for. And this is good, Jethrow.
Speaker 1: And Jethrow says Moses, this is not. You seem to
Speaker 1: be answering the question why are you doing all this?
Speaker 1: I'm asking the question why are you doing all this?
Speaker 1: What you are doing verse seventeen, what you are doing
Speaker 1: is not good.
Speaker 2: And in eighteen.
Speaker 1: He says this, you and the people with you will
Speaker 1: certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: You are not.
Speaker 1: Able to do it alone. There's no coordination of the care.
Speaker 1: There are no levels to the leadership, there are no
Speaker 1: spans to the supervision. And there is no sharing of
Speaker 1: the shepherding. You think you're doing good, but you're not.
Speaker 1: What you're doing is not good. And Moses, there are
Speaker 1: two parts to how this goes. Number one is this,
Speaker 1: you will crumble verse eighteen. You'll wear yourself out. I'm
Speaker 1: seeing it already. You're up early, even after our hangout,
Speaker 1: which was great, it was awesome. We should have done that.
Speaker 1: Your brother is hilarious. I'm glad we hung out. And
Speaker 1: now you're up early and you're up late. God's blessed you,
Speaker 1: but he hasn't blessed you with more than twenty four
Speaker 1: hours in a day or seven days.
Speaker 2: In a week. Moses. I don't.
Speaker 1: Even if you had more time, even if you're like
Speaker 1: a super black belt, getting things done, got you to
Speaker 1: do lists and your projects and all that all ironed out,
Speaker 1: keeping track and doing weekly reviews. I've seen the line
Speaker 1: of people. It will never end. There will always be
Speaker 1: more needs to pray for, more counsel to give, more
Speaker 1: troubles to shepherd, more doctrine to teach. It's too heavy
Speaker 1: now and it's only going to get heavier. It's not good.
Speaker 1: You will crumble.
Speaker 2: But not only that.
Speaker 1: Here's the second part to how this goes, Moses. Everyone
Speaker 1: just gets crumbs. These people, the people you care about,
Speaker 1: everyone will just get crumbs.
Speaker 2: They're standing in line. Their needs are real.
Speaker 1: They need more intercession, they need more counsel, they need
Speaker 1: more shepherding, they need more teaching.
Speaker 2: They need these things in rich supply.
Speaker 1: And there are people in the back of the line
Speaker 1: you're not getting to, and the ones you are getting
Speaker 1: to you're rushing, and everyone just gets crumbs. It's like
Speaker 1: my friend saying, I feel like I'm in this giant
Speaker 1: group of people and I'm the only one who knows
Speaker 1: how to bake a cake, and I can bake the
Speaker 1: great cake, and he can even bake a big cake.
Speaker 1: But in the end, everybody just gets crumbs. So no
Speaker 1: matter how well he does, he's discouraged.
Speaker 2: They're hungry. Without multiplication, leaders crumble and people get crumbs.
Speaker 2: That's the thing.
Speaker 1: Without multiplication, leaders crumble and people get crumbs. I've sat
Speaker 1: with so many people who have felt this. Pastors for sure,
Speaker 1: lay elders, small group leaders, people who are just working
Speaker 1: hard to do the job of mentoring and discipling others,
Speaker 1: parachurch leaders, Sunday school teachers, counselors, all of those types
Speaker 1: I've sat with, and some of them have wept over
Speaker 1: this situation because they feel and maybe you have felt this,
Speaker 1: maybe you're feeling this right now. If you're a leader
Speaker 1: in any setting, you will feel this. They feel the
Speaker 1: weight of real needs for rich leadership, and they feel
Speaker 1: the crumbling. But even more they feel the people that
Speaker 1: they care about are getting crumbs.
Speaker 2: And there's leaders that.
Speaker 1: Are earnestly trying to do good and there are people
Speaker 1: who are earnestly looking for good and the results are
Speaker 1: not good.
Speaker 2: It's a problem.
Speaker 1: And the problem is without multiplication, leaders crumble.
Speaker 2: And people get crumbs. It's a problem.
Speaker 1: That'd be a great spot for an amen, because I
Speaker 1: know you've felt this. I know you have felt this
Speaker 1: either from the crumbling place or from the crumbs place,
Speaker 1: or probably both. It's a problem. What's the solution. Well,
Speaker 1: God's help is the solution. God's help is the solution.
Speaker 1: That's scene three right. Scene one blessing and impressing. Scene
Speaker 1: two not good. Scene three, God's help because the same
Speaker 1: God that brought help to every hardship is bringing help again,
Speaker 1: says in verse nineteen.
Speaker 2: Now obey my voice. I will give you advice, and
Speaker 2: God be with you.
Speaker 1: And then he gives them. He gives Moses this, and
Speaker 1: what he gives to Moses. I think jeth Throw so
Speaker 1: much for starting with this. This just makes me like
Speaker 1: Jethrow more. And I was already in on Jethrow. I've
Speaker 1: got I'm holding all my Jethrow stock. Because he starts
Speaker 1: with this, He starts with affirmation. He starts with look
Speaker 1: look look look look look look look look look look
Speaker 1: look you're doing good, Moses, you are doing good. You
Speaker 1: are doing good. What you're doing is not good, but
Speaker 1: it's good. It's not good, but it is good. You
Speaker 1: keep it up, man, You keep up what you're doing.
Speaker 1: You got to keep up the intercession. You got to
Speaker 1: keep up the teaching, You got to keep up the shepherding.
Speaker 1: Keep doing these things you get.
Speaker 2: You gotta do it.
Speaker 1: But you need people to help you. You things under
Speaker 1: your care can feel like a crumbling situation, even when
Speaker 1: you are doing good and godly things that you need.
Speaker 2: To keep doing. You can't stop.
Speaker 1: But verse twenty one and twenty two. But actually he
Speaker 1: says moreover and not but but and in addition, also
Speaker 1: with moreover, look for able men from all the people,
Speaker 1: men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe.
Speaker 2: Look for ablemen to help.
Speaker 1: There's got to be some coordination to the care, some
Speaker 1: sharing of the shepherding, some levels to the leadership, some
Speaker 1: spans to the supervision. This you need to understand is
Speaker 1: God's help. God will direct you, God be with you.
Speaker 1: The pattern hasn't changed. Hardship and then help right, remember hardship,
Speaker 1: help Egypt, plagues, red seat, split, hunger, manna thirst, rock
Speaker 1: flows with water crumbling. Multiplication. This is God's help. So
Speaker 1: often God's help for the care of God's people just
Speaker 1: means multiplication of leadership in God's people. It's the pattern
Speaker 1: we see also throughout the rest of scripture, like Act six,
Speaker 1: if you remember Act six New Testament. The church is birthed,
Speaker 1: the apostles are leading it. How's it going.
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: Blessing and impressing. People are coming to trust the Lord.
Speaker 1: People are actually realizing what Jesus has done. It's awesome
Speaker 1: and it's also not good because people's real needs are
Speaker 1: getting missed, like legitimately missed, which is awful.
Speaker 2: But it's also awesome.
Speaker 1: To me because I'm like, there's a church being led
Speaker 1: by the apostles and it's falling apart.
Speaker 2: I mean kind of makes you feel like.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be okay, and the apostles are missing it.
Speaker 1: The apostles are missing it, And what do they say?
Speaker 1: What do they say when they realize we are dropping
Speaker 1: this ball?
Speaker 2: Needs? Real needs are getting missed?
Speaker 1: Do they say, Oh, I guess it's time for us
Speaker 1: to become like superheroes. No, they say that Often God's
Speaker 1: help for caring for his people is the multiplication of
Speaker 1: leadership within his people.
Speaker 2: And that's what they do.
Speaker 1: They multiply leadership the needs start to be met, and
Speaker 1: the way that that story ends is and then they
Speaker 1: increase and multiplied. It is like my friend, they didn't
Speaker 1: need to become superhero bakers. They just needed to start
Speaker 1: teaching some people how to bake. See, you can't solve
Speaker 1: leadership crumbs problems on your own, because on your own
Speaker 1: is the problem. And look, I'm not saying that you're
Speaker 1: like Moses, or like you're like the Apostles or any
Speaker 1: of us are. What I'm saying is we can listen
Speaker 1: to the same lesson that Moses listened to. That's that's
Speaker 1: why we have small groups. That's why we have small
Speaker 1: groups and listen. If if you aren't in small group,
Speaker 1: you're for sure getting crumbs. You might not even know it.
Speaker 1: You may have lived with crumbs for so long you
Speaker 1: don't even know what like to not have crumbs is.
Speaker 1: That's why we have small group apprentices learning to multiply
Speaker 1: small groups. That's why we have Whenever we have counselors,
Speaker 1: we also send with them advocates and trainees so that
Speaker 1: we can continue to multiply leadership because the solution for
Speaker 1: care amongst God's people is so often.
Speaker 2: The multiplication of leadership in God's people.
Speaker 1: That's why we're expanding and multiplying the elder team. Right,
Speaker 1: You've got that note in your bulletin. We're assessing this
Speaker 1: church is assessing these men as able men, not perfect men. Right,
Speaker 1: and how the saying goes, the best of men are
Speaker 1: men at best, but able.
Speaker 2: God fearing.
Speaker 1: As the qualifications in Titus one and one Timothy three, integrity,
Speaker 1: and those who are willing to share in shepherding.
Speaker 2: By the way, the multiplication of leadership.
Speaker 1: Is not only God's help for care, It's also God's
Speaker 1: help for endurance. And that what it says in verse
Speaker 1: twenty three. If you do this, God will direct you,
Speaker 1: and you will be able to endure. You will be
Speaker 1: able to endure. So often God's plan for endurance is
Speaker 1: not about strengthening, it's about multiplying.
Speaker 2: Well, how well does this work out?
Speaker 1: I guess that takes us to scene four Seen one,
Speaker 1: blessing and impressing Seen two, not good, Seen three, God's
Speaker 1: help Seen four. We'll just call it this leadership and listening.
Speaker 1: Leadership and listening you know that whole paragraph there, verses
Speaker 1: twenty four through twenty seven, can almost be summarized by
Speaker 1: the first three words, what are they so Moses listened?
Speaker 1: H You gotta love that about Moses.
Speaker 2: He listened.
Speaker 1: He had the humility, and he had the courage, and
Speaker 1: he had the understanding to listen to the multiplication of
Speaker 1: leadership as God's help for him.
Speaker 2: And for the people. Moses listened.
Speaker 1: And I say that almost summarizes the whole paragraph, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't quite because if you look at that paragraph,
Speaker 1: if you read through that carefully, you see that Moses
Speaker 1: isn't the only person who listened. Everybody listened. Right as
Speaker 1: you look at the verses, you see new leaders at
Speaker 1: every level listened to the multiplication of leadership.
Speaker 2: As God's help, and all the.
Speaker 1: People listen by responding to that new leadership at every level,
Speaker 1: probably with some struggle, right what you want to get
Speaker 1: I guess that that was such a struggle because we
Speaker 1: tend to need some things if we're going to listen
Speaker 1: to the multipication of leadership as God's help, we tend
Speaker 1: to need things like here are three things we tend
Speaker 1: to need in order to listen to the multipation of
Speaker 1: leadership as God's help. We tend to need a little humility.
Speaker 1: Amen tend to need a little humility. Moses needed a
Speaker 1: little humility.
Speaker 2: He had it.
Speaker 1: The scriptures say that Moses was a very humble man,
Speaker 1: and in fact he seems to listen right away. The
Speaker 1: people also needed a little humility. I imagine there was
Speaker 1: probably more than one person said, you know, I used
Speaker 1: to talk to Moses. Okay, so it requires a little humility.
Speaker 1: What I've noticed is that pride in leadership usually doesn't
Speaker 1: sound like this. It usually doesn't sound like I am
Speaker 1: strong enough, I am capable enough, I can do this
Speaker 1: by myself.
Speaker 2: Pride in leadership usually sounds like this.
Speaker 1: I should be strong enough, I should be capable enough,
Speaker 1: I should be able to do this by myself.
Speaker 2: And so if you're a leader, you start wishing for.
Speaker 1: Super strength, even praying for super strength, the kind of
Speaker 1: strength that is of on the trajectory towards m omni
Speaker 1: omni omnipotence. I swear I've said that word before, omnipotence.
Speaker 2: There's only one person who's omnipotent.
Speaker 1: And yet we we sort of wish in that direction,
Speaker 1: or or we wish that we had a super like
Speaker 1: a magic pause button.
Speaker 2: Right, if you're a leader, do you ever want the
Speaker 2: magic pause button stop the world?
Speaker 1: Not to just get off, but just so that you
Speaker 1: can be everywhere and make all the decisions and take
Speaker 1: all the actions and touch all the things so that
Speaker 1: then you can hit play. In other words, you can
Speaker 1: be everywhere. That's need presence only.
Speaker 2: One person on any present.
Speaker 1: Or if you're a leader, you start wishing for, even
Speaker 1: praying for, just to be super smart. I just I
Speaker 1: need the wisdom. I need to have all these decisions made.
Speaker 1: I need to understand exactly what to do all the time.
Speaker 1: I need the answers before the questions. That would be omniscience,
Speaker 1: only one person omniscient. Listen God's ordinary plan. Like pray
Speaker 1: for efficiency, pray for wisdom, pray for strength.
Speaker 2: It's not wrong to pray for these things, but listen.
Speaker 1: God's ordinary plan for your endurance is not to give
Speaker 1: you superpowers. It's to give you co laborers. We need
Speaker 1: a little humility and we need a little courage in
Speaker 1: order to listen. To listen to the multiplication of leadership
Speaker 1: is God's care for his people. We need a little
Speaker 1: courage because you know it takes a risk. Adding leaders
Speaker 1: is always a risk. You're gonna risk.
Speaker 2: Some trouble if you add some leaders.
Speaker 1: But listen, not adding leaders isn't a risk of trouble.
Speaker 2: It's a guarantee of trouble. Just look at this. This
Speaker 2: is this is not good.
Speaker 1: So you don't want to do it fast, you don't
Speaker 1: want to do it hastily. For Timothy five twenty two
Speaker 1: says do not lay on hands, which is to say,
Speaker 1: do not appoint leaders too quickly. But you have to
Speaker 1: do it. It's gonna take a little courage, and it's
Speaker 1: gonna take a little understanding. We tend to need a
Speaker 1: little understanding to listen, right, Moses, he had to He
Speaker 1: had to understand. He had to grasp this. The people
Speaker 1: needed to grasp this, The other leaders needed to grasp this.
Speaker 2: We have to grasp this. Otherwise confusion grasps us.
Speaker 1: If we don't have a little understanding, we get confused, like, okay,
Speaker 1: the multiplication of leaders.
Speaker 2: Is this even biblical or is.
Speaker 1: This some sort of like like secular business strategy. No, what,
Speaker 1: this is God's ordinary way. We are looking for God's help,
Speaker 1: and ultimately that's what matters most.
Speaker 2: It's not ultimately.
Speaker 1: About the right system for leadership. It's ultimately about following God.
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord for that, because the apostles can't get
Speaker 1: it right, and.
Speaker 2: Yet as we trust him, God helps.
Speaker 1: We can be confused, like is this even loving? Is
Speaker 1: it loving? Is it loving? Like it must have been
Speaker 1: hard for Moses to say, Bob, here's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: Your situation tricky, some things to teach you, some counsel
Speaker 1: to give. Here's what I'm gonna do, Bob. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna set you up with Gary. And he knows
Speaker 1: he's been taught. He is able, he is an able man,
Speaker 1: and he is full of integrity.
Speaker 2: He fears God, and he can help you. Bob. This
Speaker 2: is me loving you. This is me loving you.
Speaker 1: Because love for people is more about actually them getting
Speaker 1: the care anding that they need, then it is about
Speaker 1: you being the person they're getting it from, especially when
Speaker 1: it is the fact that they're not getting it what
Speaker 1: they're getting his crumbs, and Christ cares about his people
Speaker 1: actually getting the care and the shepherding that they need.
Speaker 1: Paul puts it this way with one group of leaders
Speaker 1: in Acts twenty, pay careful attention to care for the
Speaker 1: Church of God, which he obtained.
Speaker 2: With his own blood.
Speaker 1: In other words, the call of Christ is this, if
Speaker 1: you love me, if you honor my blood, if you
Speaker 1: honor the sacrifice I've made.
Speaker 2: To obtain my people.
Speaker 1: Honor my blood by loving these people, by caring for them,
Speaker 1: by shepherding them at whatever level is fitting, because I
Speaker 1: died for them. And we can lean into the leaders
Speaker 1: that God provides. Because if God has given us his
Speaker 1: son by his blood, how will he not give us
Speaker 1: all things? He is not going to leave us with
Speaker 1: just crumbs. God helps. God helps, He's proven it on
Speaker 1: the cross, He's proven it in extraordinary ways. And God
Speaker 1: helps also in this ordinary way. The multiplication of leadership
Speaker 1: is the ordinary way that God brings about the care
Speaker 1: for his people and their endurance.
Speaker 2: Amen